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Village
girls want to continue their studies at high school,
but are disadvantaged by their parents’ traditional
way of thinking.
"I'll never forgive my mother for not allowing me to
keep studying outside our village," said Shno Najeeb,
a 21-year-old from the Sulaimaniyah district village
of Chamrga.
Najeeb, who stopped studying when she left primary
school four years ago, is one of many unable to
continue her education as a result of poor services
and gender barriers - especially in remote areas of
Iraq.
Most villages do not provide schooling beyond
primary age, leaving female students at a
disadvantage, as they are generally prevented from
travelling from the family base to the nearest high
school.
Now many are calling for greater investment in
education, providing more secondary schools in rural
areas to allow girls to study alongside boys.
"I finished my education many years ago and I am
just working at home now," said Chamgra resident
Sirwa Hameed, 20. "Opening a secondary school here
would solve our problems."
Hayder Anwer, principal of the primary school in
Bawakhoshen, south of Sulaimaniyah, told IWPR that
girls are being disadvantaged by rural traditions.
"We have 15 students in our village who go to nearby
Darbandikhan to continue their [secondary
education],” he said. “Only two are female. This is
because people feel that it's shameful to send their
daughters away from home."
"Solving this issue isn't only the task of the
women's organisations, it is the government's duty,"
said Alaa Talabani, head of the Women's Empowerment
Centre, which runs a project for female students
prevented from attending school.
"It's essential that the Iraqi government thinks
about starting up compulsory courses in order to
eradicate illiteracy throughout the country."
The Kurdish education ministry’s general directorate
of reconstruction currently plans to build some 177
schools and 120 houses for teachers in the northern
province of Sulaimaniyah alone.
But project engineer Ako Rasheed conceded that it
wouldn't benefit all students for reasons of cost.
"We can't build a secondary school and a teaching
staff house in every village because it is expensive
and the government can't provide for that," he said.
However, Hussien Ahmad Ali, who has school-age
children, disagreed. "The problem is not just the
lack of buildings,” he said.
“There are many teachers but they don't come to
[rural] places because there are no houses and a
lack of teaching materials, let alone the issue of
the low salaries they receive. We have one primary
teacher here who provides the kerosene for the
school at his own expense."
In Bawakhoshen, 15-year-old Lava Baqi has been
unable to go to school for three years. "One of my
brothers, who finished primary school before me, is
travelling to high school. When I reached that stage
my family told me they couldn't afford the transport
costs, so I couldn't continue my education," she
said.
This problem affects many young women in isolated
communities throughout Iraq, and will require a
cultural adjustment as well improved infrastructure.
“I knew my family wouldn't send me out of our
village to have more schooling," said Zhiyan Fatah,
a 15-year-old from the same village who also
finished school three years ago. "They think that
girls shouldn't go far from home."
In Chamgra, Najeeb's mother Halawa Mahmood has some
sympathy for her daughter and her former classmates,
but is unrepentant.
"It is not pleasant for females to stay at home,"
she said. "But we are a tribal people and our
traditions don't let girls go far [from the
village]."
This is little comfort for Najeeb, who told IWPR,
"One day I was sweeping my home, a year after I had
left school, and found one of my old exam papers.
When I saw it I couldn't help but burst into tears."
Niaz Muhamed is an IWPR trainee journalist in
Sulaimaniyah.
www.iwpr.net
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